Björn Ulvaeus: How music streaming transformed songwriting | TED

Transcriber:

翻译人员: Mia Cheng 校对人员: Grace Man

首先，我想引用一句名言，

但我并不清楚这句话的来源。

这句话说得很好，原文是：

I'd like to start with a quote,

“版权不仅仅是在为作者提供公平，

but it's very embarrassing because I don't know where it comes from.

还在推动科学、艺术 和文化发展的同时，

But it's very well put, and it goes like this:

"Copyright is designed not only to provide fairness for authors,

提高了整个社会的生活质量。”

but also to enhance the quality of life within a society

换言之，

让创作者的创作获得应得的经济报酬

by promoting the progress of science, art and culture."

已被全球公认为是一项社会责任。

In other words,

the concept of making it economically feasible for creators to create

我有过几次写歌词的经历，

is now globally recognized as a social imperative.

但有一首歌很特别， 即使过了很长时间，我仍记得。

I have very few memories writing lyrics to songs.

那时我正趴在一间小客房的床上，

But there is a particular one from long ago that I do remember.

面前放着一个本子。

我房间隔壁是主卧，

I was lying on my stomach on a bed in a small guest room

我当时的妻子阿格妮莎 (Agnetha) 正酣然入睡。

with a writing pad in front of me.

In the master bedroom next door,

音乐在我的脑海中响起，

my then wife, Agnetha, was sleeping undisturbed.

无需扬声器，更不用手机。

没有歌词的旋律是 一方未开垦的土地，

The music was playing in my head,

so no need for speakers, not even headphones.

所以作词人一定要 小心‘耕耘‘’。

A melody that still lacks words is virgin territory

大多时候，歌词的终稿，

upon which a lyricist must tread lightly.

是作词家努力、深思

Some of the time, the final words on the page

和直觉的成果， 是作曲家必须信任的成果。

are the result of hard work, deep thought

但有时，非凡之事就在于此；

and the intuition that a songwriter must learn to trust.

帷幕突然拉开， 旋律开始与你对话，

But sometimes, extraordinary things happen;

逐渐变化为图像， 甚至是一连串的事件。

closed curtains are suddenly drawn, and the melody speaks to you

你只需记录，将你看到的写下。

and starts to conjure up images and even sequences of events.

创作者经常面对的是一首零碎的歌，

All you have to do is write it down, write down what you witnessed.

但当它突然完整地出现在空中时，

A song can come to its creator in bits and pieces.

似乎它已经徘徊在那儿许久， 天知道它待了多久，

But when it once in a while appears out of thin air in its entirety,

也许它一直在焦急地等待着

it seems to suggest it had already lingered there, God knows how long,

被一双灵敏的耳朵捕获，

perhaps impatiently waiting to be plucked down

正如它需要流动在合适的血管中，

从思想领域一路流到现实。

by someone with a keen and sensitive ear,

as if it needed the right vessel to flow through

完成创作时，我欣喜若狂。

from the realm of ideas all the way down to earth.

那一刻，我感激音乐本身，

I was deliriously happy when I had finished.

感激它那飘忽又 无从定义的纯粹存在，

At that moment, I was grateful for music itself,

就好像跳过大脑，直击心灵。

for the sheer existence of this elusive, undefinable phenomenon

我想放声歌唱这曲作品， 但已经是凌晨两点了。

that seems to ignore our brains and go straight to our hearts.

即使在极度兴奋的时候，

我也很明智， 没有吵醒第二天要唱我歌词的女人。

I wanted to sing it out loud, but it was two o'clock in the morning,

and even in my euphoria,

如果我和本尼·安德森 （Benny Andersson）

I had the good sense not to wake the woman who was to sing my words the next day.

是现在写完了那首歌,

你可能都没有机会听到它。

它也许会化为一场失落的梦,

If Benny Andersson and I had written that song today,

淹没在每天上传到流媒体服务的

you might not have gotten to hear it.

It could have been just another lost dream,

大约八万首新歌之中。

[one of] about 80,000 new songs uploaded to streaming services

如今的竞争很激烈，

比 1977 年要激烈得多。

every single day.

The competition today is fierce,

就算 Spotify 用户 经常听我们的歌，

much fiercer than it was back in 1977.

版税也付不起房租。

And even if our song had been clicked very often by Spotify subscribers,

所以今天我想分享给你们的是，

chances are slim that the royalties would have paid anyone's rent.

在音乐行业结构简单且更可预见时，

So what I want to talk to you about today

我如何从一名作词者的角度，

is how I see the changes in the song economy

窥见音乐行业未来的变化。

using my perspective of what it was like to be a songwriter

如今，数据掌控一切，

when the music industry was simpler and perhaps more predictable.

流媒体的数据告诉我们，

在流媒体服务中，

These days, everything is tracked by our data.

用户经常只收藏他们喜欢的歌曲，

And data from streaming tells us

而不是他们喜欢的音乐创作人。

that listeners much more often click their favorite song

例如，在使用播放列表时，

than their favorite artist

他们甚至不清楚在听谁的歌。

on a streaming service.

所以如果我们更加关注歌曲，

Sometimes they're not even sure who it is they're listening to,

那么音乐创作人呢？

if it's a playlist, for example.

创作人就被迫屈居“后座”，

So if we're paying more attention to the song, though,

甚至，被塞进了“后备箱”。

what about the songwriter?

Songwriters have been forced into the back seat,

我的担忧是作词者正逐渐 沦落为隐形的受害者，

and I would even say, bungled into the trunk.

而这种风险正是 目前的改变带来的。

My concern is that songwriters are at risk of becoming invisible victims

现在，音乐产业俨然 就是歌曲经济。

然而，作为音乐产业支柱的 创作者只分到一小杯羹。

of the change that is taking place.

The music business is now a song economy.

这到底是是如何发生的呢？

Yet the creators of the songs that fuel it get the smallest slice of the pie.

我并不是觉得我们应该回到过去，

How did that happen?

回到你熟知的 那位老歌星的那个时代。

I am not, for one moment, about to suggest that we should turn back the clock,

但是过去十年发生的变化，

是可以对创作者十分有利的。

which you may have suspected from an old pop star.

现在，我来讲一下流媒体变革

But what's happened in the last decade

has the potential to be incredibly positive for songwriters.

带来的那些意外后果。

以及他们是如何改变 音乐创作者的生活。

Now, instead, I'm going to describe the unintended consequences

而后，我还会给出一些

of the streaming revolution,

关于如何解决 这些意外后果影响的建议。

how they are reshaping the lives of songwriters.

And then, I will present some proposals

现在是创作音乐的最佳时机。

for how the impact of these unintended consequences can be addressed.

如今，只要音乐创作者愿意，

It has never been a better time to be writing and making music.

他们就有可能 在全球范围内找到受众，

甚至不需要唱片公司或音乐出版商 就可以自己尝试。

Anyone today has the potential to find a global audience,

and if they so choose,

一个完整的音乐软件行业正兴起，

they can even try to do that on their own, without a record label or music publisher.

能满足新一代音乐家 和作词者的需要。

A whole music software industry is emerging,

流媒体使这种新的音乐模式 成为可能。

serving the needs of a new generation of artists and songwriters.

2020 年发生的疫情 一度暂停了现场音乐的发展。

Streaming has enabled this new music paradigm.

许多音乐创作者知道 只靠流媒体他们是无法生存的。

Once the pandemic stopped live music in 2020,

有人搬回去和父母住，

many artists realized that they couldn't pay their bills on streaming alone.

而另一些则开着优步维持生计。

Some have moved back in with their parents,

在此之前，流媒体只是或多或少 为他们的巡演和现场演出做宣传。

and others are driving Ubers to make ends meet.

目前为止，这些演出都是 他们主要的经济来源。

Previously, streaming had more or less been promotion for their tours,

有趣的是，这和 70 年代 阿巴乐团的情况正好相反。

and live appearances, by far providing most of their revenue.

我们几乎不巡演， 即使有巡回演出，也赔钱。

It's funny, but it was exactly the opposite for Abba in the 70s.

但巡回演出是为了给专辑做宣传。

We hardly toured at all, and when we did, we lost money.

所以巡回演出本身并不重要。

我记得那时我们从没有 抱怨过版税的多少，

But, I mean, the touring was supposed to be promotion for the album

现在疫情期间， 音乐创作者的情况反而更糟糕，

so that didn't matter.

And I can't recall that we ever complained about the size of our royalties,

因为版税和流媒体成了 他们唯一的收入来源。

which the artists, during the pandemic, have done bitterly,

我想，如果这就是 对音乐创作者的影响，

when streaming and royalties suddenly were the only source of income.

那么欢迎来到音乐创作者的世界。

大多数专业音乐创作者不举办巡演，

"If this is the impact on artists," I thought,

他们也不售卖T恤或其他周边，

"welcome to the world of songwriters."

他们仅依靠歌曲本身来赚钱。

Most professional songwriters don't tour,

但这一点也正在发生改变，

they don't sell T-shirts or other merchandise ...

因为歌曲已经随着 流媒体的发展而演变，

They rely on the song itself.

唱片公司让一群词曲作者合作的情况

But even that seems to be changing,

because the song has evolved in response to streaming,

也越来越普遍，

创作出的大多是 换汤不换药的热门歌曲。

and it's increasingly common for record labels

歌曲的编写和结构，

to get large teams of songwriters to work together,

都是流媒体服务 使用算法优化过的，

creating almost genetically modified hits.

这决定了我们听到的音乐。

Songs are written and structured in ways

that are optimized for the algorithms that streaming services use

一项研究表明，如今，

to decide what music you and I listen to.

一首美国布告牌排名前十的热门歌曲 平均有五位作词者——

Some research has been done to suggest that these days,

不是一位或两位，而是五位， 有些甚至达到了十位。

a Billboard Top 10 hit has, on average, five songwriters --

此外，他们不得不以更快的速度 写更多的歌，

not one or two, but five -- and sometimes even 10.

仅仅是为了跟上流媒体音乐创作上

永不满足的需求。

And on top of this, they’re having to write more songs and more quickly,

1974 年阿巴乐团凭借《滑铁卢》 赢得了欧洲歌唱大赛的冠军，

simply to keep up with the insatiable demand

for new music that streaming creates.

版税突然蜂拥而至，

After ABBA had won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with "Waterloo,"

我和本尼（Benny） 可以全职写歌，

朝九晚五，

royalties suddenly came pouring in,

我们的工作发生了巨大的变化。

and Benny and I could afford to write songs full time,

我们可以选择 放弃 95% 的成果，

nine-to-five.

That made such a huge difference.

只为了追求最好的作品。

We could afford to throw away 95 percent of what we wrote

我们学会了如何识别“垃圾”，

如果你想在写歌方面得到精进， 这一点很重要。

and just keep the very, very best.

We learned how to recognize garbage,

版税给了我们时间和创作的自由。

and that's essential if you want to get good at your craft.

不用说，如果你很着急 且有人一直催你，

Royalties simply gave us time and creative freedom.

那么时间和自由你都不会拥有。

Needless to say, you will have neither

歌曲创作的行业方式就是

if you’re in a hurry and someone is breathing down your neck all the time.

使创作者更难建立 可持续发展的职业生涯。

The industrial approach to songwriting is making it harder

那些顶层的创作者很成功，

for many songwriters to build sustainable careers.

然而在底层的作词者，

他们曾经能靠创作歌曲为生，

Those that are successful are very successful,

如今却备受煎熬。

but those in the layers below,

他们正成为行业体系的一部分， 而不是行业体系为他们服务。

who used to be able to make a living from songwriting,

are really suffering.

我来列举三个痛点：

They are becoming parts of a system that they serve more than it serves them.

首先，流媒体服务 付给录音的费用，

And here are three key pain points.

是付给创作费用的四倍，

Firstly, streaming services typically pay out about four times more

这也意味着歌曲创作者 获得的流媒体收入，

要比歌手更少。

for the recording than they do the composition,

这是过去遗留的问题，

which means a streaming income is even smaller for songwriters

当时唱片和实体产品的包装 都非常昂贵，

than it is for artists.

所以录音的花费占比大是合理的，

It's a legacy from the past,

when recordings and the packaging of physical products were very expensive,

但是这一点已经改变了。

而这个改变还并没有反映在 版税的分配上。

so a larger share for the recording was justified.

第二点，

But that has changed.

流媒体服务版税支付的方式 也是有问题的。

But the change has not yet been reflected in the division of royalties.

一位用户每月的 9.99 订阅，

Secondly,

even the way that streaming services pay royalties is problematic.

除以当月的所听音乐流量，

A listener’s monthly 9.99 subscription goes into a central pot,

这决定了一个流或 一次播放的价值。

which then gets divided by the total number of streams that month.

这意味着如果你播放 阿恩·詹森（Arne Jansen）的

That decides the value of one stream, or listen.

爵士三重奏，

如果你在过去的一个月里 播放了 50 次，

This means that you if you have streamed Arne Jansen's jazz trio,

邻居的十几岁女儿听 贾斯汀比伯的歌 5000 次，

if you have done that 50 times in the past month,

这 9.99 里只有一小部分 会给阿恩·詹森。

and the neighbor’s teenage daughter has streamed Justin Bieber 5,000 times,

这不是贾斯汀比伯的问题，

only a small fraction of your 9.99 will go to Arne Jansen.

但你最喜欢的艺人 要怎么获得报酬呢？

第三点， 糟糕的元数据是一个大问题，

Nothing wrong with Justin Bieber,

but how does that reward your favorite artist?

元数据是有关一首歌曲 及其录制的相关信息。

And thirdly, bad metadata is a big problem,

经常发生唱片上传至流媒体服务，

metadata being the relevant information about a song and its recording.

缺失了准确的相关数据信息。

比如，词曲作者的名字省略掉了。

Very often, recordings are injected into a streaming service

那意味着流媒体服务 不清楚将版税寄到哪儿，

without accurate data.

The name of the writer is missing, for instance.

这笔费用也就进了 所谓的“黑箱子”。

That means that the streaming service doesn't know where to send the royalties,

关键就在这儿。

最近，

20 家流媒体服务 给美国一家非营利组织

and the money is put in a so-called "black box."

Just sits there.

捐赠了 4.24 亿美元，

Recently,

20 streaming services distributed 424 million dollars

他们本应试着 去找那笔钱的合法拥有者。

to a US nonprofit organization,

找到这些创作者需要 花上几年的时间。

which is supposed to try and find the rightful recipients of all that money.

所有这些问题和其他问题一同

都是创作者们面临的困境。

It will take years -- if they ever find them.

在过去的十年里， 这种情况变得越来越糟。

The combination of all these issues and others

are creating a perfect storm for songwriters.

在过去的五年间，

Over the last decade, I've watched this situation get progressively worse.

我一直在参与试图 解决这个问题的项目中。

And during the past five years,

我可以做些什么呢？

首先，

I've been engaged in projects that aim to do something about it.

今天你们在这里听我发声，

So how can I help?

当然，这正是我想做的， 引起人们的关注。

Well, first of all,

但是我想做的不仅仅 只是引起人们对这一问题的关注。

I have you all here today listening to me,

and that's, of course, what I want to do -- to raise awareness.

我还想帮助这个行业找到解决方案。

But I want to do more than just raise awareness of the issues.

在众多建议中，

I also want to help the industry identify solutions.

我想说以下几点：

首先，以听众为中心的版税。

And here are a few suggestions,

为了保证所有创作者 都能得到公平的报酬。

out of many.

One: fan-centric royalties.

我建议流媒体服务 根据个体听众的行为

In order to ensure that all songwriters get paid fairly,

来分配版税。

I suggest that streaming services allocate their royalty payments

个体订阅费用应该除以个体听众

based on the behavior of individual listeners.

在一个月内播放的歌曲数量。

The individual description should be divided by the number of songs

这样每首歌都能分到报酬。

the individual listener has played during a month.

如果订阅是 9.99 元，

一个听众这个月听了 10 首

That gives each song a value.

阿恩·詹森的歌，

If the subscription is 9.99,

每首歌能得到 0.99 的报酬， 接近 1 美元，

and the listener has played 10 Arne Jansen, again,

这些报酬会支付给阿恩·詹森。

songs that month,

each song has the value of .99, almost a dollar,

在现在的体系制度下，

可以肯定的是，阿恩只能拿到

and that's the amount that will be paid to Arne Jansen.

0.00几美元的报酬。

Under the current system,

所以这种以听众为中心的版权 分配方式会带来现在急需的公平，

you can be sure that Arne would get

the value of .00-something dollars.

并能够在 Deezer 和 SoundCloud 的基础上

So this fan-centric approach to royalties will bring much-needed fairness

建立起重要的开端。

但也许提高流媒体服务版税

and can build on the important starts made by Deezer and SoundCloud.

最简单和最高效的方式，

是流媒体提高他们收取的费用。

But perhaps the simplest and most effective way

to improve streaming royalties

流媒体荒谬的 9.99 元定价 已经持续超过十年了

would be for streaming services to increase how much they charge.

与此同时，网飞似乎每周都在涨价。

Streaming pricing has been stuck at ridiculous 9.99 for more than a decade.

研究表明，订阅用户 会支付更多费用；

Meanwhile, Netflix seems to increase its pricing every week.

9.99 会很容易变成 11.99，

甚至到 12.99。

Research shows that subscribers will pay more;

第三，繁琐但绝对必要的注册。

9.99 could quite easily become 11.99,

perhaps even 12.99.

每天有 8 万首新歌 进入音乐行业，

And thirdly: the tedious but absolutely necessary registration.

我们应该有一个 对用户友好的注册网站，

Wherever the 80,000 new songs per day make their entry into the music industry,

来确保尽早获取相关的作品信息。

there should be user-friendly registration portals

这将减少出现“黑箱子”问题 和利益冲突。

to make sure that relevant information about the work is captured early.

在我看来，这是社会的义务，

This would diminish the problem with black boxes and conflicts.

这从源头上收集创作者的版税，

使技术更加现代化 以及适应数字化时代。

In my view, it is an obligation for collecting societies,

who collect creators' royalties at source,

我知道，我站在你们面前

to modernize and to adapt their technology to the digital age.

一口气提出一系列对行业的建议，

I know it's easy for me to stand here in front of you

比让这些改变落实简单多了。

and reel off a list of suggestions for the industry --

但是我们需要改变，

以及尽快改变。

much easier than making these changes happen.

至关重要的是，这些改变需要

But change does need to happen,

整个音乐行业共同努力来实现。

and soon.

Crucially, this change needs to be brought about

歌曲和创作者 推动着音乐产业的一切，

by the music industry as a whole,

从录音到现场表演，

each part working together.

The song and the songwriter fuel everything,

如果乐队没有好的音乐作品， 甚至连一件T恤都卖不掉。

from the recording through to live performances,

我的回忆会伴随着一些歌，

even a T-shirt would not sell if the band hadn't good songs.

从艾佛利兄弟到披头士，

I have created memories to some of those songs,

到埃尔顿·约翰以及更多的创作人，

from the Everly Brothers

歌曲有时的突然结尾会让我惊喜，

and then the Beatles,

Elton John and many more,

很快又会惊叹于他们纯粹的美丽，

songs that sometimes would surprise me with a stab of ending,

和他们所带个我的灵感。

我知道他们本身的意义

quickly washed away by their sheer beauty

以及他们对于我的意义。

and the inspiration that they gave me.

我经常会想： 如果我们没有音乐会怎么样？

I know what they mean

and what they meant to me.

我觉得这会让我们缺少人文。

I've often wondered: What would we be without music?

如果我们听不到音乐， 这和聋了有什么区别？

Less human, I'm convinced of that.

但我们似乎从未思考过这个问题，

If we couldn't hear music, then what else would we be deaf to?

即使现在音乐无时无刻 不在我们身边。

But we never seem to think about that,

现在是整个音乐产业支持

even though music is all around us all of the time.

其最有价值的资产的时候了。

This is the moment for the entire music industry to invest in supporting

有太多音乐创作者 在这个摇摇欲坠的行业体系中煎熬。

what is, without a doubt, its most valuable asset.

我上述的解决方案可以 帮助平衡音乐产业中的收入问题，

Far too many songwriters out there are suffering in this creaking system.

这样更多的音乐创作者和他们的听众

Solutions like those that I have outlined could help rebalance the song economy

都能坦诚

说出我在开头所说的那首歌中 所说的话：

so that more songwriters and their listeners

will be able to lean back and say, in all honesty,

“谢谢你的音乐”。

exactly what I said in the song that I was talking about in the beginning:

"Thank you for the music."